New to LR Hunting .308 advice

Hey guys I am new to this site and to rifle hunting as well. I have been bowhunting all my life and been ery succesful at it. However I am a new dad and started a new business and don't have the time to get out every weekend and take long stretches off of work in the fall. So I want to take up rifle hunting I am not crazy or anything I know it is going to take time and dedication and I have some realistic goals it think. I would like to be able to shoot and take game out to 500yds or so. I borrowed a savage rifle from a friend for an antelope hunt this fall and was able to take two nice anmals with it. I liked it so much I went out and got one I did a little research and found that the caliber I wanted was a .308 so I bought one today. It is a savage model 10 with a nice laminate stock and a pos cabelas 3-12 power scope.

I am also wanting to start reloading as my neighbor died a few years back an his familiy gave me all of his hunting gear and he had a decent reloading setup. So I am thinking of using the stock setup to find a load that the rifle licks and after that getting a scope made for it like a huskama or a leupold with the cds. The reason for this is alos because I have a disiease in my eye that I can not see fine images very well and th nikon bdc and leupold bc reticles i can not see the tiny marks very well.

Anyway just wondering if you guys had any suggestions on loads to start with in the .308 I am going to be hunting everything from antelope to elk and like I said at ranges starting out of 500 yds unless things go well then we can go farther. Also if you have any suggestions to things I can do to the rifle to make it a little more accurate at long ranges. The reson I chose this rifle is it is in my price range and I have been tld you don't need to do much with them to be accurate.

Welcome to long range hunting and the most addicting sport you will ever be apart of. I for one congratulate you on your purchase of a Savage rifle. I own 2 and plan to purchase more when money allows.

My first suggestion to reloading before considering what to purchase is a good manual. Lee and Lyman are not specific to anyone company of bullet or powder, but offer some very good reading on the basics of reloading. Reading this material will help you to get a basic knowledge of what one needs to look for when choosing equipment and accessories to reload. Also take notice to all the safety precautions when handleing powder and primers.

The .308 is an excellent rifle for ranges to 500yrds for harvesting game. Using a premium bullet in the 150grn to 175grn class will kill anything you want it to at that range. General powders used are Hogdon Varget, and Alliant Reloader 15. These powders seem to produce optimum efficiency and velocity with the bullet weights I suggested. Some other powders to consider would be IMR 4064. You want to use a Large Rifle Primer of some type. CCI 200 and Federal 210 are the most popular, but can be extremely hard to find. Remington 7 1/2 and Winchester WLR are good selections also. Wolf makes a decent primer, but I have yet to use them.

The powder weights in the books are a good starting point for any reloading novice. You should pick a velocity that you think should be sufficient for the game that you want to kill. Your manual will offer its suggested powder load to attain this speed. The only drawback is the test rifle they used. It is important to remember that your rifle may not shoot identical numbers that are being showed in the manual. Always start in the middle and work your way up. You need to watch for signs of over pressure i.e.; ejector marks on the rim, bulging in the brass, hard or sticky bolt lift, and cratered primers. If any of the above happens, you need to stop shooting that load and start over backing down a grain or two.

It is good practice to step up loads when starting fresh in .5grain incriments. You will find the loads will go to a tight group and open up again. As your loads increase you may find 2 nodes of accuracy. One at a low powder charge and one at a higher powder charge. Another variable is the temperature. The powders above are designed to be more stable with temperature, but you will see some change in either accuracy or pressures. A load that shot well at 45 degrees may be to high pressured at 85 degrees.

For deer at 500yrds, a velocity of no less than 2650fps should be the minimum (strictly my opinion) speed with the .308. The faster you can scoot the bullet in this caliber the better as long as you can maintain the accuracy without over pressuring your chamber. Between 2650 and 2750 will be sufficient. You want to make sure that your grouping is at least 1" or perferably less at 100yrds. This in theory this should result in a 5" or less group at 500yrds. With practice and good reloading you should be able to attain smaller groupings.

Finally, practice, practice, practice. There is no substitution for getting on the range and shooting. This is highly necessary to be able to get your quary as efficiently and ethically as possible. Because you are reloading, you will be able to make a few more trips to the range. It is also necessary to practice to the ranges that you are wanting to hunt. The farther you shoot the more wind becomes a key factor in your ability to hit your intended target.

Take care, and have fun with your new addicting hobby,
Tank

P.S. Get your rifle glass bedded unless it has pillar bedding.

__________________
Matthew 7:13-14
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. [14] But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Don't know if you have gotten to it yet, but you want to get some specific dies for your caliber. Redding dies are the best as far as I am concerned. You want to get three dies. You want to purchase a full length sizing die, neck die, and bullet seating die. Redding offers an S type neck die that allows you to pick a bushing to choose your neck tension.

The also have a very Micrometer competition bullet seating die. These are nice for fine tuning your over all length. If you have to go in or out a few thousands it takes the guess work out of guessing how deep to turn in or out the screw.

You'll need a shell holder. I would purchase a couple of them. You'll need one for your neck trimmer and your press. Also look for a hand priming tool of some type. These are really nice for doing multiple rounds quickly. Just make sure that you push the primers in the whole way.

You want to work up to these loads, but typical loads for 168grn Hornady a-max and 168 Sierra Match Kings 43.0 to 44.5 grns of Varget. The charges for RL15 seem to be a bit lower. RL15 I have found has higher pressures. I could not shoot these loads in my rifle. The highest I could get up to is 42.5 with varget and 41.5 with RL15. I just have a tight barrel or something. It still shot relatively well.

Tank

__________________
Matthew 7:13-14
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. [14] But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

I run 43 gr of Varget pushing a 175 Berger VLD, with CCI match primers. I have found this to be very accurate and good for reaching out. It will definately do the job at 500 yards.

Scouts Out

I forget about Berger because they are a little too pricey for me. But thanks for the reminder. Another awesome option would be the JLK bullet as well.

Tank

__________________
Matthew 7:13-14
"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. [14] But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Bergers arn't what I would call cheap, but they come 100 to a box, for a premium bullet. Alot of other "long range" bullets come in 50 or even 20 count boxes. Also the 30 cal 175 gr VLD is not that popular of a bullet so they are ussually in stock.